Last September, I visited my friend Mokrane who lives north of Chicago to celebrate his 60th birthday. He and I go a long way back: We attended the Technical High School of Dellys from 1993 until 1976. After high school, we were awarded national scholarships to study engineering at Tulane University. Now, we both live in Illinois, and we see each other often.

Mokrane cherished his cultural and language ties to Kabylia. When my wife arrived at his place, the first thngs Mokrane showed me were his fig trees in the backyard. Unfortunately, there were less than two feet tall because of the long and cold winter weather in Chicago. He indicated that he usually bring them indoor during winter. Mokrane and I I share the love of figs and fig trees. Read my experience with figs in business class.

This morning, on my local newspaper, I see a picture of the American First Lady, Michelle Obama, tending to a fig tree, just like my friend Mokrane. That made me wonder whether her DNA would indicate some ancestry in North Africa.